There is an interest in making certain portable devices such as cellular telephones smaller. Making such devices smaller makes it more convenient to carry them around at all times.
Concurrently there is a trend toward increasing the functionality of devices. In the case of cellular telephones, increased functionality includes providing operability on multiple frequency bands using multiple protocols, and providing the ability to take photographs and/or video clips. Adding more functionality often leads to increased space requirements, which is at odds with the desire to make the devices smaller. Furthermore, depending upon the desired overall dimensions of the device, some of the dimensions for some of the components may be more critical than other dimensions. Thus, the amount of space, i.e. volume, available for accommodating components is at premium. Still further, the desire to accommodate more critical dimensions for one or more of the components is also a factor to be considered.
One component found in portable electronic devices such as cellular telephones, is a latch used to secure battery compartment covers. It is desirable to have a latch mechanism that takes up less space, relative to at least one or more dimensions.